100 point wines not selling

[Bacchus]

I don't subscribe to any on-line wine sites. But every now and then a "free" piece comes to my attention. This is a remarkable bit where James Suckling can't believe that no one is buying the wines he scored at 100 points:
http://www.jamessuckling.com/my-blog-th ... tigma.html

[JimHow]

Ha ha I love it. I'm curious to see what will happen with the 2012 vintage. It appears we'll be able to get first growths for under $300. Will they be cleared out at under $200?

[DavidG]

"Young Bordeaux with 100 point scores have a stigma now," explained Simon Tam, head of wine sales for Christie's in China. "Many customers here won't touch a 100-point young wine any more because they expect it to be overpriced. People are after drinkable, high-scoring wines, but not ones that received 100 points."

I wonder if the stigma is really price, or if perhaps the stink of the association with Rudy has finally made people wary of trophy bottles being offered by Acker.

[Jay Winton]

so 95 points is the new 100 points?

[DavidG]

Could be, but then again maybe it's just that they're not willing to spend that much anymore for an extra couple of points.

[Rudi Finkler]

Some people learn fast, some people learn slowly...

[Gerry M.]

LOL! It's actually encouraging to hear this. It shows that people are actually smartening up to chasing high scores. There will always be a place for the "professional" reviewer but with the overall average cost of new releases escalating to new heights mpst people no longer have the luxury to be buying 1st growths by the case.

Also imho, until there is a formal re-evaluation of the 1855 classification, there will always be a psychological barrier tp spending $150+ for 3rd-5th growths just because someone gave them 100 pts. Why spend big money looking for the chance of an great wine in 20 years when you can spend the same, or less, today for some really great wine.

[DavidG]

Yes it is encouraging. Gerry what you say makes sense. I see that this auction occurred before the Rudy K trial even began, so I doubt that fear of fake wines had anything to do with it. Maybe people are a little less prone to being led around by their nose by the critics.

I think it would be hard for anyone or any group to produce a ranking system that would challenge or replace the 1855 classification. That's not an endorsement of the 1855 classification, but a comment on how hard it would be to develop criteria that would be accepted across a wide range of consumers.